Unkrada 1909

Nicholas Roerich created “Unkrada” with paint, and I’m guessing tempera, given the matte, chalky surface. The paint handling is flat and decorative, like an icon painting. I love the way he builds up the landscape with these tiny, repetitive brushstrokes; like he’s knitting the earth together. The woman’s robe is a similar weave of brown, folding and bunching like thick wool. Then, the little red squares at the hem of her skirt vibrate against the yellow-green ground like a Mondrian. Look how Roerich makes the clouds and water mirror each other with the same horizontal marks. He’s not trying to trick us into thinking this is real. Instead, he wants to present a world both earthy and ethereal, physical and spiritual. It feels like he’s pointing at something beyond this realm, maybe like Hilma af Klint was doing at the same time. I like to think of art history as a conversation that stretches across time and space. It’s always unfolding, and it’s never finished.